1. Technical Field
Embodiments relate to touchscreen user-interfaces.
2. Background Art
Mobile computing devices are available in many forms. Example mobile computing devices include mobile telephones, smartphones, personal digital assistants, navigation devices, netbook computers, mobile computers, gaming devices, and the like. Many mobile computing devices feature a touchscreen as the only means, or at least a major means, of user interface for display and user input.
Many applications that run on mobile computing devices allow the user to enter user input and select content using the touchscreen interface. However, as the touchscreen interfaces become increasingly smaller, the selection of content through the touchscreen interface becomes more difficult and error-prone.
Touchscreen technology has undergone substantial improvements. However, conventional methods of content selection using a touchscreen, particularly small touchscreens, are still cumbersome for users. For example, using conventional content selection methods, a user would painstakingly point to and select each object, or precisely select an area containing the objects of interest in order to select multiple objects of interest displayed on the touchscreen. Use of a stylus is typically needed for precise selection. Even finger-based touchscreen devices, such as the iPhone from Apple, Inc., require tedious and precise selection where text of interest must be specifically highlighted, often in small print. As the touchscreens become smaller and the content gets increasingly more complex (e.g., text and graphics combined, multicolumn display, framed display, and the like) the content selection becomes increasingly tedious and error-prone. Also, as the range of applications available on touchscreens increase and the need to use information or content across multiple applications increase, more efficient ways of selecting content from one application, for example, to be used in another application, increases.
Therefore, as users perform an increasing range of tasks in the cramped confines of relatively small touchscreen interfaces, more effective access to functions of computing devices and applications should be enabled. Therefore, improved methods and systems for content selection on touchscreen interfaces are desired.